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Home > Who We Are > NewSpirit > A Future Reality - A Vision for the Church
A Future Reality - A Vision for the Church
by Lesley Harrison
“A Future Reality”
by Lesley Harrison
Solomon’s Porch is an emergent church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, I spent some time there this past spring. The worship space is filled with what looks like old cottage furniture set up in the round There are screens, a band, art work done by congregants and many stations for communion. The emergent style of worship lends itself to an eclectic mix of liturgy, experience and participation and it was, I think because of the aesthetics of the space and the style of worship, that a blessed, holy moment occurred in our midst.
We were invited into communion by the presider, a congregant, and asked to say the prayer of thanksgiving together. The prayer was projected but had many of the same elements as a prayer found in any of our United Churches. This is one of the elements of emergent worship that makes it appealing to me is that there are touchstones to our own tradition and history of church. At the end of the prayer we were invited, very informally, to make our way to a communion station. It was then, just as we were about to move that a young woman leapt to her feet and called out, “I just have to speak.” She moved quickly into the center of the space and rather inadvertently picked up the bread as she spoke, saying, “I’ve been watching the news and reading about the soaring food prices around the world. I see mother’s lining up with their babies for a loaf of bread, just simple bread and they can’t afford it and my heart is breaking.” She took a breath and looked at us imploringly, “Our hearts are broken.” And as she said this she ripped the bread apart and held it up, continuing, “I come here because we need communities like this to learn and live justice in the world, we need each other to bring healing.”
With tears in our eyes we moved together to bear witness to the body broken and the cup poured out.
This story captures some of the vision of a ‘future reality’, a vision for the United Church, the place that we are called to, the place I believe we need to be, for our families, our friends, our children, our grandchildren, for our planet, for ourselves.
I have lived and grown, worked and been loved in and through this church and I believe with all my heart that we have a vital, essential and life-giving place in our communities. Our churches are now among the few places in our culture, maybe the world, that have as their purpose to discern, to teach, to learn and to live love, the love that Jesus commanded, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind and love your neighbour as yourself.”
This love is created and sustained by its transformative power, the heart of our faith: life, death and resurrection.
We find ourselves (maybe we should always find ourselves) in the mix of transformation. Richard Rohr, writer for Sojourners Magazine, speaks of this time as ‘Liminal Space’.
“Liminal space is a unique spiritual position where human beings hate to be but where the biblical God is always leading them. It is when you have left the “tried and true” but have not yet been able to replace it with anything else. It is when you are finally out of the way. It is when you are in between your old comfort zone and any possible new answer.”
But we do have touchstones or streams of the vision leading us onward:
1. Community: We must be authentic, integral, humble, forgiving, playful, deep, challenging, just and justice seeking, transformative and transforming.
2. Places of Radical Welcoming as spoken of by Stephanie Spellars, “They attempt to listen carefully to, make room for, share power with, and learn from groups who’ve been silenced, closeted and disempowered, and they are open to genuine conversation and transformation based on this encounter with The Other. On the ground, that means they allow God’s Spirit and the gifts of The Other to enrich and transform their understanding of who is inside and who is outside, what ministries they undertake, how they select leaders, how they do business, how they worship, what they claim as their mission and purpose, and how they partner with other groups.” (p.16)
3. Create space for spiritual formation / discipleship
4. Action for Social Change
Other studies of human beings show that we do not fear change as much as we fear loss. We need to let go of the fear and walk in faith with God. We need to try, experiment, risk (whatever that might look like):
Ø different worship styles
Ø new music
Ø change in structure
Ø redeveloped mission strategies or visions
Ø integrated children’s ministries – Godly Play
Ø progressive intergenerational groups
Andrew sings Pie Jesu
“You are good; what I want to see is a bit of confidence and self belief.” You got three yeses!
(May the Love of God, Peace of Christ and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit be yours this night and forevermore. Amen.)
For more information about the Emerging Spirit Program click here.
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Posted: December 17, 2008
Expires: never
category: NewSpirit Online
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